President's Message

Here in San Diego, spring is swinging into high gear. Spring flowers are in full bloom. The days are growing longer. This is the time of the year I like best. The academic year is winding down and many of you are preparing for the coming summer, whether you will travel abroad, concentrate on your research, teach summer courses, or just take a break. We are full of expectations of what is ahead.

My one-year term as ATJ President started with the spring board meeting, which usually marks the transition of our organization's administration. Mari Noda is now Past President, and Joan Ericson has left the troika of administrators. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to them for their strong leadership and guidance during the past year. Janet Ikeda is President-Elect. I look forward to working with Mari and Janet in leading this vibrant organization so that we will be able to effectively respond to the needs of the membership and further advance ATJ's mission. I also would like to welcome three new members of the ATJ board: Yoshiko Saito-Abbott, Shingo Satsutani, and Michio Tsutsui.

This year's ATJ Seminar, held in Chicago in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, was a great success, reflected in the large number of participants and the many exciting, high-quality presentations and discussions. This quality clearly shows the excellence of our organization and its membership. The keynote address by Ms. Beate Sirota Gordon, who drafted parts of the section on civil rights in the postwar Japanese Constitution, vividly depicted the actual development process of the constitution. Afterwards, the seminar attendees were treated to a performance by master rakugo player Ryuutei Saryuu at the Japan Information Center in downtown Chicago. We are grateful for the success of the ATJ Seminar and related events to four board members: Seminar Committee members Dan Dewey, Noriko Iwasaki, and Mayumi Oka, and Kazumi Hatasa, who organized the rakugo performance. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their dedicated service.

The economic downturn we have experienced since late last year has significantly affected education. Many Japanese programs and classes have been shut down, and there are large class sizes at all levels of instruction. Government funding is driving support for programs in Chinese and other "critical languages," sometimes at the expense of other languages, including Japanese. It is important for us to expand our presence. To this end, we should partner with K-12 teachers and programs, communities, businesses, and governments. Last month, I had an opportunity to discuss the current status and future of Japanese language education at the Central Association of Teachers of Japanese (CATJ) conference at Michigan State University in Lansing. Michigan has suffered economically as a result of the decline of the automotive industry. I was very much impressed with the hard work and cooperation of Japanese language teachers at the K-16 level in Michigan. The state's Japanese teachers have been working closely with local Japanese businesses and the Japanese Consulate in Detroit to promote Japanese language education and are actively engaging in the development of Japanese language teacher training and study abroad programs. They embody a good model of cooperation among K-12 and college teachers, businesses, and government that is needed in every state. The majority of our members are college-level teachers, and I would like to encourage you to start a dialogue with local K-12 Japanese teachers about common concerns: articulation, teaching materials, assessment, etc.

As reported in one of the past issues of the newletter, a task force comprising members of ATJ and our sister organization, NCJLT, has been formed to discuss the possible consolidation of the two organizations. These two organizations share many of the missions of Japanese language education, and their activities overlap in many respects. Together, we may be able to better respond to the needs of the two memberships and promote Japanese language education and related activities more effectively. The consolidation may make us more economically viable, especially at a time when funding support for professional organizations such as ours has been decreasing. The task force has been researching the consolidation from various points of view. We will keep you updated on the progress of this discussion through the newsletter and other communication channels.

The 7th International Conference on Japanese Language Education (ICJLE), in conjunction with the annual Japanese Studies Association of Australia meeting, will take place at New South Wales University in Sydney, Australia, in mid-July with the theme "Bridging the Gap between the Japanese Language and Japanese Studies." Japanese language educators and Japanese studies specialists from all over the world will gather to discuss the incorporation of Japanese studies materials into Japanese language education. Content-based language instruction is a hot topic in our field, and I look forward to sharing ideas with colleagues from other countries. I hope that many of you also will be able to attend this conference.

In my capacity as official delegate to the Joint National Committee for Languages/National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL/NCLIS), which advocates for world language and international education in Washington, D.C., I attended its annual delegate assembly along with our Administrative Director Susan Schmidt. This year's discussion centered around the use of funding from The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which has made more than $50 billion in stimulus funds available for states and schools to save teaching jobs at risk from state and local budget cuts and to drive education reforms. Some of these stimulus funds can be used for maintaining and promoting world language education. Keep an eye on the Department of Education (http://ed.gov/) as well as the JNCL/NCLIS (http://languagepolicy.org) websites. The latter site provides frequently updated information for language educators that can be useful in working with local K-12 Japanese language teachers to advocate for Japanese language education in your area. ATJ will provide information on how to collaborate with K-12 teachers, businesses, and government through this newsletter and our website during the coming year.

I hope that you enjoy pleasant spring days and have a productive summer.